Fernando Lugo

Fernando Lugo, in full Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez
(born May 30, 1951, San Pedro del Paraná, Paraguay), former Roman Catholic bishop who became president of Paraguay (2008–12). His inauguration ended the conservative Colorado Party’s 62-year hold on power.

Lugo was the nephew of Epifanio Méndez Fleitas, a Colorado Party leader who was forced into exile in 1956, during Gen. Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship (1954–89). After briefly working as a primary-school teacher, in 1970 Lugo began a novitiate with the Divine Word Missionaries. In 1977 he earned a degree in religious studies from the Catholic University in Asunción and was ordained ... (100 of 661 words)